Robotic Limbs.

Post Reply New Topic

How long do you think it will be until robotic limbs will become common place? Both my feet point down and my ankles don't move robotic limbs look way better than my feet do now, it would be able to walk properly again.

Sooner than we think!

The technology has existed for quite some time already, and keeps getting better.

As with all things technological, they're improving & reducing in cost faster than anyone ever thought imaginable.

Granted, it's still not an overnight thing.. but this is not the stuff of science fiction that "Maybe someday my great grandchildren will benefit from."

IMO, over the next decade or two we're going to see rates of technological change in this area of medicine, and all areas, escalate exponentially. At present we just see news articles and clips here and there about prototypes and test cases on military veterans and such becoming part bionic. We'll see more and more of that.. then one day we'll be out and about in public and spot someone with one, and then another.. and thanks to 3D printing technologies they'll be ultra custom fitted at a fraction of their original R&D cost, too. Then they'll be ever more common until Boom, nearly everyone who truly Needs one will be able to access them. They still won't be ultra inexpensive.. but as with anything, economies of scale & improved production technologies will bring the costs down to the point that more and more people, beyond the financial elite, will be able to afford them.

How soon? I don't know & wouldn't want to wager a bet on.. but, I think these things will come about sooner than we think! The demand is there, it's just a matter of the technologies required all coming together in the perfect mix, at an affordable price point. I'd be surprised if we don't see significant progress towards this reality over the next decade. That may seem like a long time to wait.. but life is a really long time! Even if one has to be patient for another 10, 15, 20 years before they're truly affordable, at least they'll be able to benefit from them for the rest of their lives.. and many others will benefit from them at younger ages into perpetuity once it's commonplace.

I'd be super impressed to see it happen much more rapidly, 5-10 years, but I wouldn't put money on it just now. Things do take time to go from expensive first attempt prototypes to mass market production models. But, you never know.. someone with incredibly deep pockets could accelerate R&D on a product like this and, boom, we see them literally hit the streets over the next few short years. That'd be pretty cool.

_________________
No for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.